


Winter Fair

by octopus_fool



Series: Yuletide Cheer [21]
Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Brotherly Bonding, Denethor's A+ Parenting, Family Feels, Fluff, Gen, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-09-17 07:51:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16970685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/octopus_fool/pseuds/octopus_fool
Summary: Denethor gave Boromir some money to spend at the winter fair with his friends. Boromir decides to take his little brother along instead.





	Winter Fair

**Author's Note:**

> Written for day 15 of [Arda Advent](http://ardaprompts.tumblr.com/post/180626386876/join-me-in-creating-wintery-fanworks-about), the prompt was "winter fair".

“Go ahead and choose something,” Boromir said. 

Faramir looked at the candied fruits with wide eyes, his thumb stuck firmly in his mouth. It was a habit Boromir hoped Faramir would give up soon, solely for the reason that their father hated that his son still sucked his thumb when he had already turned five. Then there would be no more ugly scenes like there had been earlier, with Father yelling at Faramir while Faramir cried, his thumb still in place. 

“Where did you get the money?” Faramir asked around his thumb, his voice just loud enough to be heard amidst the cheerful noise of the crowd. 

“Father gave it to me so that we can have a nice day at the fair.”

It was not quite the truth. Father had given the money to Boromir, so that _he_ could spend a nice afternoon at the winter fair with his friends. Faramir had not been mentioned. Father probably assumed he would spend the afternoon in his room, unhappy because of the yelling. And that was probably exactly what Faramir would be doing if Boromir hadn’t decided to take him to the fair to cheer him up. Boromir knew Father wouldn’t be happy if he found out what he had done, but that was a problem to worry about later.

From the skeptical gaze Faramir gave Boromir, he knew that Faramir doubted his story, but Faramir didn’t say anything.

“Let’s walk around a bit and you tell me if there is anything you want to eat,” Boromir said, squeezing Faramir’s hand. 

They walked past more candied fruits, caramel toffees, roasted nuts, cakes, waffles, sausages on a stick and meat pies. Faramir looked at everything with wide eyes. Boromir saw him looking at the roasted nuts longer than at the other things. 

“Do you want some roasted nuts?”

Faramir slowly shook his head. Boromir had not expected this to be this complicated, but he swallowed his impatience. 

“What do you want to get? You really can choose anything you like.”

Faramir chewed on his lower lip. “I want to get Mother something nice.”

“That’s a great idea,” Boromir said, slightly embarrassed that he hadn’t thought of that himself. “What do you want to get her?”

“Something pretty to look at so that she can be happy.”

Holding hands so as not to lose each other in the crowd, they made their way towards the booths of the craftsmen. 

They looked through booths with wood carvings, stone works and dainty glass figurines before they finally came to a booth with shapes and figures twisted out of straw. They saw the flying straw bird at the same time and looked at each other, grinning.

“That’s it,” Faramir said, voicing what Boromir had also thought. “We can hang that on her window so that she can look at it.”

Boromir nodded. “It is the right gift for her.”

He asked the woman in the booth what the price was, slightly fearing that it would be more than what Father had given him. But the price was low enough that they could afford it. As the woman wrapped the bird, Boromir did the sums in his head. He generally liked doing sums rather less than he liked his fighting lessons, but in moments like this, they could be quite useful. If he had calculated correctly, they could still afford a small treat with the money.

Faramir carefully carried the bird in the hand that wasn’t clutching Boromir’s, thumb forgotten for now. 

“We still have enough left to get you something nice to eat,” Boromir said. 

Faramir shook his head, his jaw taking the same stubborn shape as their father’s sometimes did. “No. That money is yours. Father gave it to you, not to me. And I already got Mother something.”

Boromir knew there was nothing he could do to change Faramir’s mind and get him to choose something. Doing his best not to sigh, he lead Faramir back towards the food stalls. 

Boromir had been looking forward to a candied apple, but instead, he made his way to the booth with the roasted nuts Faramir had been looking at earlier. He bought a portion with the money he had left and they made their way to where the crowds thinned and climbed onto the wall, Boromir helping Faramir up.

“Here, have some,” Boromir said, holding out the bag with the nuts to Faramir. “There are too many for me to eat on my own.”

Faramir reached into the bag. 

Warmed by the mild winter sun the two brothers sat looking southwest, eating roasted nuts in quiet companionship.


End file.
